Rosa Parks Quotations

Memories of our lives, of our works and our deeds will continue in others.

Each person must live their life as a model for others.

I have learned over the years that when one's mind is made up, this diminishes fear; knowing what must be done does away with fear.

Have you ever been hurt and the place tries to heal a bit, and you just pull the scar off of it over and over again.

Racism is still with us. But it is up to us to prepare our children for what they have to meet, and, hopefully, we shall overcome.

I would like to be remembered as a person who wanted to be free... so other people would be also free.

All I was doing was trying to get home from work.

At the time I was arrested I had no idea it would turn into this. It was just a day like any other day. The only thing that made it significant was that the masses of the people joined in.

Whatever my individual desires were to be free, I was not alone. There were many others who felt the same way.

It was not pre-arranged. It just happened that the driver made a demand and I just didn't feel like obeying his demand. I was quite tired after spending a full day working.

I'm tired of being treated like a second-class citizen.

My only concern was to get home after a hard day's work.

When the history of this country is written, when a final accounting is done, it is this small, quiet woman whose name will be remembered long after the names of senators and presidents have been forgotten.

I didn't want to. I didn't think I should have to. I didn't feel that it was the right thing for us to be enduring.

she stood up by sitting down. I'm only standing here because of her.

When they stood up and I stayed where I was, he asked me if I was going to stand and I told him that 'no, I wasn't,' and he told me if I did not stand up he was going to have me arrested. And, I told him to go on and have me arrested,

He was the first, aside from my grandfather and Mr. Gus Vaughn, who was never actually afraid of white people, ... So many African Americans felt that you just had to be under Mr. Charlie's heel - that's what we called the white man, Mr. Charlie - and couldn't do anything to cross him. In other words, Parks believed in being a man and expected to be treated as a man.

People are exploiting it, ... We are very concerned about that.

I was just trying to let them know how I felt about being treated as a human being,

I would like to be remembered as a person who wanted to be free... and other people would be also free.

was that I was a person with dignity and self-respect, and I should not set my sights lower than anybody else just because I was black.

was the catalyst of one of the most important freedom movements not only in American history but in world history .. indeed she became the symbol and personification of our nonviolent struggle for liberation and human dignity.

the real reason of my not standing up was I felt that I had a right to be treated as any other passenger. We had endured that kind of treatment for too long.

We've got an urban area with very few middle-class citizens in it, ... I don't think anything could bring me back.

At the time I was arrested I had no idea it would turn into this, ... It was just a day like any other day. The only thing that made it significant was that the masses of the people joined in.

The time had just come when I had been pushed as far as I could stand to be pushed, I suppose. I had decided that I would have to know, once and for all, what rights I had as a human being and a citizen, even in Montgomery, Alabama.

failing to obey the order of bus driver.

so that the citizens of the United States may pay their last respects to this great American.

if she could not survive as humble and as sweet as she was in a segregated society ? nobody could survive.

You treated her with deference because she was so quiet, so serene -- just a very special person,

It's very sad, very sad, ... He was just as close to me as if he was my own grandson, and I felt that way about him, and that's how he felt about me.

I heard that she sat down on the bus. That is all that I know. They don't tell you too much about this stuff at school. They talk mostly about military tactics and how wars were won.

It was just a matter of survival...of existing from one day to the next. I remember going to sleep as a girl and hearing the Ku Klux Klan ride at night and hearing a lynching and being afraid the house would burn down.

It was not pre-arranged. It just happened that the driver made and demand and I just didn't feel like obeying his demand . . . I was quite tired after spending a full day working.

He pointed at me and said, 'that one won't stand up.' The two policemen came near me and only one spoke to me. He asked me if the driver had asked me to stand up? I said, 'yes.' He asked me why I didn't stand up, ... I told him I didn't think I should have to stand up. So I asked him: 'Why do you push us around?' And he told me, 'I don't know, but the law is the law and you are under arrest.'

Her act of civil disobedience, for which she was willing to pay the price to end the rein of terror, got her arrested.

you must never be fearful about what you are doing when it is right.

Nothing in the Golden Rule says that others will treat us as we have treated them. It only says that we must treat others in a way that we would want to be treated.

To bring about change, you must not be afraid to take the first step. We will fail when we fail to try.

Many whites, even white Southerners told me that even though it may have seemed like the blacks were being freed (by my actions) they felt more free and at ease themselves. They thought that my action didn't just free blacks but them, too.

I am leaving this legacy to all of you...to bring peace, justice, equality, love and a fulfillment of what our lives should be. Without vision, the people will perish, and without courage and inspiration, dreams will die - the dream of freedom and peace.

I believe there is only one race - the human race.

There is work to do; that is why I cannot stop or sit still. As long as a child needs help, as long as people are not free, there will be work to do. As long as an elderly person is attacked or in need of support, there is work to do. As long as we have bigotry and crime, we have work to do.

Stand for something or you will fall for anything. Today's mighty oak is yesterday's nut that held its ground.

Since I have always been a strong believer in God, I knew that He was with me, and only He could get me through that next step

I thought about Emmett Till, and I could not go back. My legs and feet were not hurting, that is a stereotype. I paid the same fare as others, and I felt violated. I was not going back.

One person can change the world.

When that white driver stepped back toward us, when he waved his hand and ordered us up and out of our seats, I felt a determination cover my body like a quilt on a winter night.

I would like to be known as a person who is concerned about freedom and equality and justice and prosperity for all people.

I knew someone had to take the first step and I made up my mind not to move.

If I can sit down for freedom, you can stand up for children.

I learned to put my trust in God and to see Him as my strength. Long ago I set my mind to be a free person and not to give in to fear. I always felt that it was my right to defend myself if I could. I have learned over the years that when one's mind is made up, this diminishes fear; knowing what must be done does away with fear.

Every day before supper and before we went to services on Sundays my grandmother would read the Bible to me, and my grandfather would pray. We even had devotions before going to pick cotton in the fields. Prayer and the Bible, became a part of my everyday thoughts and beliefs. I learned to put my trust in God and to seek Him as my strength

Knowing what must be done does away with fear.

People need to free their minds of racial prejudice and believe in equality for all and freedom regardless of race. It would be a good thing if all people were treated equally and justly and not be discriminated against because of race or religion or anything that makes them different from others.

We didn't have any civil rights. It was just a matter of survival, of existing from one day to the next. I remember going to sleep as a girl hearing the Klan ride at night and hearing a lynching and being afraid the house would burn down.

I want to be treated like a human being.

I have spent over half my life teaching love and brotherhood, and I feel that it is better to continue to try to teach or live equality and love than it would be to have hatred or prejudice. Everyone living together in peace and harmony and love - that’s the goal that we seek, and I think that the more people there are who reach that state of mind, the better we will all be.

I had no idea that history was being made. I was just tired of giving up.

Without a vision the people perish, but without courage dreams die.

As long as people use tactics to oppress or restrict other people from being free, there is work to be done.

It is better to protest than to accept injustice.

People always say that I didn’t give up my seat because I was tired, but that isn’t true. No, the only tired I was, was tired of giving in.

Our mistreatment was just not right, and I was tired of it.

I believe we are here on the planet Earth to live, grow up and do what we can to make this world a better place for all people to enjoy freedom.

If you want to be respected for your actions, then your behavior must be above reproach. If our lives demonstrate that we are peaceful, humble, and trusted, this is recognized by others.

I thought of Emmett Till, and when the bus driver ordered me to move to the back, I just couldn’t move.

I will always work for human rights for all people.

As long as there is unemployment, war, crime and all things that go to the infliction of man's inhumanity to man, regardless - there is much to be done, and people need to work together.

The only tired I was, was tired of giving in.

I had given up my seat before, but this day, I was especially tired. Tired from my work as a seamstress, and tired from the ache in my heart.

I do the very best I can to look upon life with optimism and hope and looking forward to a better day.

I had been pushed as far as I could stand

If I stayed angry at other people, I would miss finding friends among those I was angry with.

I did not get on the bus to get arrested I got on the bus to go home.

When people made up their minds that they wanted to be free and took action, then there was a change.

There were times when it would have been easy to fall apart or to go in the opposite direction, but somehow I felt that if I took on more step, someone would come along to join me.

What really matters is not whether we have problems, but how we go through them. We must keep going on to make it through whatever we are facing.

When one’s mind is made up... fear diminishes.

My resisting being mistreated on the bus did not begin with that particular arrest…I did a lot of walking in Montgomery.

An opportunity was being given to me to do what I had asked of others.

People have said over the years that the reason I did not give up my seat was because I was tired. I did not think of being physically tired. My feet were not hurting. I was tired in a different way. I was tired of seeing so many men treated as boys and not called by their proper names or titles. I was tired of seeing children and women mistreated and disrespected because of the color of their skin. I was tired of Jim Crow laws, of legally enforced racial segregation.

I had been pushed as far as I could stand to be pushed. I had decided that I would have to know once and for all what rights I had as a human being and a citizen.

I was ready to die but give my consent never. Never, never.

Why do you all push us around?

I was determined to achieve the total freedom that our history lessons...

Racial pride and self-dignity were emphasized in my family and community.

I'd see the bus pass every day… But to me, that was a way of life; we had no choice but to accept what was the custom. The bus was among the first ways I realized there was a black world and a white world.

I had felt for a long time, that if I was ever told to get up so a white person could sit, that I would refuse to do so.

I did not want to be mistreated, I did not want to be deprived of a seat that I had paid for. It was just time… there was opportunity for me to take a stand to express the way I felt about being treated in that manner. I had not planned to get arrested. I had plenty to do without having to end up in jail. But when I had to face that decision, I didn't hesitate to do so because I felt that we had endured that too long. The more we gave in, the more we complied with that kind of treatment, the more oppressive it became.

It takes more than one person to bring about peace - it takes all of us.

Victory or defeat? It is the slogan of all-powerful militarism in every belligerent nation. And yet, what can victory bring to the proletariat?

All I was trying to do was get home from work.

I will no longer act on the outside in a way that contradicts the truth that I hold deeply inside. I will no longer act as if I were less than the whole person I know myself inwardly to be.

There is no future without education.

I see the energy of young people as a real force for positive change.

Arrest me for sitting on a bus? You may do that.